Anime, Manga, Figures, Technology, Video Games, Life, Music.

Time Makes Fools of Us All

It’s been a long while since I’ve posted. Well, whatever your definition of “a long while” happens to be. I was reading a friend of mine’s blog, (I’ll have to keep reading that) and it reminded me that this was a great way to put off studying. Seeing as how I will be up all night anyways, taking a few minutes to procrastinate never hurt anyone, right? Well.. maybe.

I’ll start off this session of boredom by talking about that which this blog was formed to talk about: anime. The spring season has been up and running for a while. I started the season by picking up every single show that looked interesting. In the end however, I always end up watching just a select 2-4 series. This season that number sits at four; Valkyria Chronicles, Hatsukoi Limited, Fullmetal Alchemist 2, and Eden of the East. I’ll prob watch Basquash at some other time, but whatever, not now.

Fullmetal Alchemist is… well.. FMA, if you don’t know about it, then you probably haven’t watched anime in the past four years. This series follows the manga, so it is different from the first series. But, it’s still FMA, and everyone should watch it. It’s great, and even if you may not like it as much as the first series, you will still probably like it. I’m watching Valkyria Chronicles solely because of my love for the game. I am perfectly willing to admit that anime is not that great, and that Alicia is annoying as hell. But, the game is so good that I feel obligated to watch the anime. If you have not played the game, I would not recommend this anime, in fact, I feel that you should instead go play the game a.s.a.p.

Hatsukoi Limited and Eden of the East are different beasts entirely. Hatsukoi Limited is based off a manga written by the same woman, Mizuki Kawashita, who wrote Ichigo 100% (if that means anything to others, it means a lot to me). It’s very good. All the characters are engaging, and the scenarios are real enough to be believable, but absurd enough to be interesting. I particularly like the weird love square.. thingy.. happening around Saki. I dunno, maybe I’m just a romantic type of guy. The large amount of fan service never hurts. It’s a good slice-of-life, and anyone who is a fan of that genre will most likely enjoy Hatsukoi Limited.

Yes, breasts do have that.

Eden of the East is something that is hard to describe. It’s great, but very odd. I would recommend it to those with patience. It take a while for any sort of plot line to really develop, and even then, it’s a bit.. odd. I definitely will have to wait ’til the end to go over it further.

Well aside from putting off work to watch anime, I’ve also been putting off work to read books! I’ve recently discovered how fantastic the Science Fiction section of the UCF library is. I have been slowly going through all their collection (about 4 books a week). Right now I am on Arthur C. Clarke, particularly the Rama series. It’s a great series, and I would recommend it to any hardcore sci-fi fans. A funny thing about one book, Childhood’s End, I noticed was the amount of references other material make to it. I can think of many many anime that are directly related to it. The biggest names being Evangelion, RahXephon, and Eureka 7. RahXephon actually has an episode named “Childhood’s End.” This book was great, maybe one of the best I have read recently, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Another great series of novels, a much newer series, is the “Old Man’s War” series written by John Sclazi. It’s great! Scalzi has an interesting style that I would describe as a mash-up of Stephen King and Robert A. Heinlein. The first book is similar to Starship Troopers, describing a man who joins the military and makes his run through the training to become a soldier. However, it is a lot less “preachy” and the characters are significantly more likeable. I think I would attribute this likability to Scalzi’s humor. He has a great sense of humor, and it really comes out in some key moments, where a lighter mood is much needed. I laughed out loud at some moments, and these books aren’t even meant to be comedies. Scalzi’s writing is just very accessible. These are books that people who are not hardcore sci-fi junkies could appreciate. They are also not hard reads, and I’m tempted to try to get my teenage siblings to read them (though I assume this will end in failure).

The books introduce some much needed new ideas, some fresh blood, into science fiction. They are short reads, but very enjoyable. Scalzi’s writing style wraps you up and pulls you through the books so fast that you’ll be incredibly sad when the series ends. I wanted to stay with the characters, I wanted to see more of their lives. But sadly the books do end. They are great reads, go read them now!

Well, that’s about all, maybe I’ll type more after my exam today. I’m going to test out that five hour energy thing. See if it lives up to its promises.